For the third time in five years - and the second time in two months - a U.S. leader had been gunned down. Sen. Robert Kennedy was in critical condition after being shot in the head in Los Angeles, even as he took command of the California Democratic primary close to midnight.

The Rocky, and every other morning newspaper across the country, scrambled to tear apart already-closed editions and rush an Associated Press story into the June 5 paper.

LOS ANGELES, June 5 - Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, brother of the assassinated President John F. Kennedy, was shot in the head twice early Wednesday by a gunman whose bullets turned a scene of political triumph into one of shock and confusion.

Three others also were wounded.

Frank Mankiewicz, his press secretary, said Kennedy's condition was "stable."

"He is breathing well and has a good heart," he told reporters. "I do not think he is conscious."

A curly haired man, about 25 and of Latin appearance, was seized immediately as he brandished a small pistol.

The shooting occurred as Kennedy finished a victory speech after surging ahead of Sen. Eugene McCarthy in the California Democratic presidential primary.

The Rocky ran a small photo of Robert Kennedy, alongside another of Rafer Johnson - the Olympic decathlon champion and Kennedy supporter who was credited with capturing Sirhan Bishara Sirhan in the Ambassador Hotel, where Kennedy was shot.

In the early-morning hours, to change the front page as quickly as possible, editors cut the earlier lead story on the primary results to a single column. The results showed Kennedy with 266,186 votes to Eugene McCarthy's 218,832. California Gov. Ronald Reagan, who did not seek the Republican nomination but ran unopposed on the ballot, received 179,827 votes.

No one would ever know what might have happened in a presidential race between Kennedy and Richard Nixon, the eventual GOP nominee. The Rocky's Page One headline June 7:

Kennedy to Be Buried

Beside Slain Brother

NEW YORK, June 6 - (UPI) - Robert F. Kennedy joined his brother in an assassin's death Thursday, and mourners began the long journey with the body toward its resting place beside the late President Kennedy in Arlington Cemetery.

Only two months earlier, Dr. Martin Luther King had been killed in Memphis.

Denver headquarters closed

The Rocky sent the intrepid Al Nakkula to cover the closing of Kennedy's campaign headquarters in the Denham Building in Denver. There he found a janitor scraping black lettering off the glass door of Room 314. It read, "Kennedy for President."

Life is interrupted

For Robert Walters, of Russell, Kan., June 6 was the best day in all of his 14 years. He was named champion of the annual Scripps- Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. The original spelling bee schedule called for Robert and his family to take sight-seeing tours of the nation's capital, but that had all changed now, as a story deep in the Rocky explained.

The scheduled itinerary was completely disrupted by the assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and the continuing disputes emanating from Resurrection City. Scripps-Howard officials have wisely avoided taking the spellers and their escorts into areas which present potential danger. This is graphically illustrated by the special security guards present during the spelldown and riding the sight-seeing buses.